Allen Stanford hospitalised

Allen Stanford, who was due to appear in a Houston court on Thursday, was hospitalised with an irregular heartbeat and high pulse.

Stanford, who sponsored the Stanford Twenty20 tournament in the Caribbean as well as the one-off fixture between England and Stanford Superstars, is facing charges of fraud totalling US$ 7 billion. The charges include seven counts of wire fraud, ten counts of mail fraud, conspiracy to obstruct an investigation for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), obstruction of an investigation by the SEC and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Stanford, a Texan billionaire, was arrested in June and was scheduled to appear in a Houston court for a hearing on whether he could get a new attorney. In the same courtroom on 27 August, Stanford's former finance chief, James Davis pleaded guilty on three counts: conspiracy to commit mail, wire and securities fraud; mail fraud and conspiracy to obstruct a securities and exchange commission investigation.